


Misadventures in Romantic Exploration

by WizardPartyForever



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Death Note, Cheating, Good dad Soichiro, Jealousy, L masks his jealousy by being a r00d boy, M/M, Pining, Rating May Change, aka i haven't written any smut so far but honestly when do I not, celebrity drama, lawlight is endgame but light is going to whore around a bit first, workplace drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-06-03 16:59:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19468252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardPartyForever/pseuds/WizardPartyForever
Summary: When his loving, devoted girlfriend gets with his ex, Light is set on the path of self discovery - a path which includes copious amounts of red wine, pining over his boss, and hooking up with every other gay man in the office.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> For context, in this AU Light is not Kira. He is working on the Kira case with L as a regular police officer, but was never a suspect. Also, L has not revealed his identity to the task force here; everyone just thinks he is an assistant of L's working in liaison with the task force.  
> Loosely inspired by one of my favorite fics, The Necessity of Sleep, by Dlvvanzor on fanfiction.net. It's a super fun short fic, and it never fails to make me smile!

The day Misa Amane cheated on him was the worst day of Light Yagami's life. Of course, anyone with half a brain could see his tangible disinterest with her - he wasn't terribly sad about the turn of events. Rather, the knowledge that Light Yagami was on the market and would not need time to to get over the loss of his darling girlfriend seemed to be an open invitation for seemingly all the men he knew to act on the longstanding suspicion that he was, in fact, gay. 

Of course, being cheated on was, all in all, a terrible experience, and Light would have much preferred to have had the upper hand and been able to break up with her on his own terms - but within the circumstances, things could have gone much better. 

He could have, for instance, learned of the situation through a close friend who was concerned about his relationship, rather than having walked in on Kiyomi Takada (in his bed) with his girlfriend's head in between her legs. He could have handled the situation quietly, moving out of Misa's apartment the night he found out and making a more socially acceptable reason for their breakup, had Misa not run out crying to her twenty best friends - all of whom were relatively famous models and pop stars, so of course the news was out by the next morning. Hell, just by the nature of the two participants involved - his girlfriend, a semi-famous model, and her  _ supposed  _ rival, a prominent news reporter - Light's privacy in regards to his love life was doomed. 

Friday night, he walked in on Misa's affair with Kiyomi. By Saturday night, Misa and Kiyomi had each made Twitter threads apologizing and explaining their actions to their fans. By Sunday night, Light had gotten a storage unit for his things and moved back into his parents' house. 

Dinner was tense that night. Sayu, who practically worshipped Misa, was torn between despair at the fact that Light would never bring her idol around again and excited exclamations of, "I can't believe MisaMisa's a huge lesbo!" Neither Sachiko nor Soichiro had ever much cared for the obnoxious celebrity, but Sachiko did her best to comfort Light in his act of being so very heartbroken. 

While Light prided himself in his acting skills, nobody else seemed to buy it. His father had patted him on the shoulder when he first came home and mumbled some sort of condolence, but seemed grateful more than anything to have Misa Amane out of his life. Soichiro had invited a few of their coworkers over to dinner that night, and it was clear that none of them fell for Light's distraught act either. Matsuda was the only one who seemed to even care, as he, like Sayu, had been enthralled with Misa. As they weren't supposed to discuss the case outside of work, though, it seemed like Light's love life was destined to be the topic of conversation.

"So Light," Matsuda asked during a lull in the conversation. Light's mother had just come around to refill their wine glasses, and the red tinge on Matsuda's cheeks indicated that he may have had a bit too much. Light rolled his eyes internally - they had work tomorrow; Matsuda had no business being drunk. "Misa said on Twitter that you actually, like, walked in on them. Is that true?"

Light huffed. "Yes, unfortunately. You should have seen Takada - actually, be glad you didn't. There's a reason we broke up," he added. 

Matsuda giggled. "I don't know, I get to look at her every day on TV and I'd say that's a sight I'd like to-" 

"Light, Matsuda!" Soichiro interrupted. "This really isn't appropriate dinner conversation."

"Besides," added Sachiko, "I know Light is very torn up by what happened. You shouldn't probe him for details, Matsuda." 

Light looked down at his glass of wine. He certainly hadn't had enough to be drunk, but he also didn't drink very often - perhaps he was a bit tipsy, as he found he wanted to keep talking to Matsuda.

"It's fine mom," he said, getting up from the table. "I've finished with dinner. Matsuda, come outside with me?" 

Several minutes later, Light and Matsuda were giggling out on the front porch together. Despite all the shit he gave him at work, Light could admit that Matsuda was a good friend - or at least, was fun to gossip with while being mildly intoxicated. Light lamented about how much Misa had appeared to hate Kiyomi when they had been dating. "Every time we ran into her Misa would make me reassure her that I didn't like her anymore, and then that night I'd have to tell her how much better than Takada she was in bed." 

Matsuda leaned in conspiratorially. "Well was she?" 

"I mean, I always found Takada hotter. And she was smarter. In bed, they were both…" He shrugged his shoulders. "Eh." 

"Oh, come on Light! Don't ruin my dreams, you know I'm in love with Misa!" 

"Yeah, well, she's a bitch," he said shortly. He sighed. "Sorry. It’s just - she was so devoted to me! I don’t understand - I mean, with my ex? Of all the people she could have…” He trailed off and took a sip of his wine.

"Well, you know what this means," Matsuda giggled. "You're going to have to get with her ex in revenge now!" Light laughed, but Matsuda continued in earnest. "Think about it Light! Hideki Ryuga - he's so much more rich and famous than Misa, and remember when he broke up with her? It was such a scandal!"

"No, I don't remember,” Light said dryly. “I don't keep up with that celebrity drama.”

"Ah, whatever - it was really embarrassing for Misa though. She would be sooo humiliated." 

"I think if I dated another celebrity Sayu would lose her mind," Light joked, and finished off his glass of wine. He considered going in to get another, but he didn't want his lips to get any looser in front of Matsuda than they already were - he already feared he had made a fool of himself with his ridiculous impressions of Misa. "Besides. Hideki Ryuga is a guy, if you haven't noticed." 

Matsuda went red. "Oh. Uh, I didn't realize that made a difference for you, Light." 

Light reeled back. Was Matsuda implying..? "You didn't - what? Of course it does!" He stammered.

He was in such a state of shock that he didn't know what to do but go back into the kitchen and pour himself another glass. When he got back out to the front porch, he had downed about half of it. 

Matsuda laughed awkwardly. "Oh come on Light, don't turn to alcoholism just because of me - I just assumed…"

Light waved him off. "It's fine. Anyway, I'd rather date Hideki Ryuga than Misa at this point." 

Matsuda visibly relaxed at his joking manner. "So I suppose all that's left is to get him to want to date you then. We'll have to work on that in the morning," he said, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. He turned toward the door. "I think I'll say my goodbyes and head out for the night; I'm feeling pretty sleepy." 

Light nodded and opted to stay outside, leaning against the rail. He was eager to go to bed, and wished Aizawa and Mogi would leave already so he could retire without coming off as rude. He wished Ryuzaki had come - his father had invited him, but Ryuzaki had made some excuse about how he couldn’t because he was busy with L or whatever. Light snorted. Whatever. Obviously the guy was just too socially awkward to spend time with people outside of work. Tonight would have been much more enjoyable if he were there, though.

After a few minutes Matsuda returned, followed by a chorus of goodbyes from the house's inhabitants. "I'll see you tomorrow at work, yeah?" Matsuda said. 

Light nodded, thoughts still lingering on Ryuzaki. 

"Hey, I know the past few days have been tough. Do you want to meet up sometime this week for drinks?" 

Light considered. He didn't really want to hang out with Matsuda outside of work, truth be told. The man was dumb, and annoying. Still, it would be rude to say no - he was trying to help. Besides, tonight had been bearable. "Yeah, totally. That sounds great." 

Matsuda grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Uh - cool! I'll talk to you tomorrow, I can't wait!"

Light stayed out for a bit after Matsuda left, enjoying the light buzz he had going from his several glasses of wine. His thoughts strayed. He thought about Hideki Ryuga. Sayu had been obsessed with the celebrity since before she was even a teenager. He had met him once at some fancy gala with Misa, who had spent the rest of the night going on about what a terrible boyfriend he had been, and how he had totally screwed her over to get famous. Light wasn't sure he believed the tale, but, being a good boyfriend, he had dutifully hated the man ever since.

It occurred to him that Matsuda had seemed awfully awkward when he mentioned that Ryuga being a man was an issue for him. In fact it was almost - disappointment? Why would Matsuda hope that Light was into guys? 

Instantly everything clicked into place, and the thought, ‘ _ did Matsuda just ask me out?’  _ swept through him so fiercely he had no time to prepare himself for the realization.

He dropped his glass in shock.


	2. Awkward Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few misunderstandings puts Light in an awkward position.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank you all for the warm reception the first chapter of this fic got - feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive and it's motivated me to get this next chapter out asap! I'm really proud of this chapter so I hope you guys like it as well!

The next morning, Light awoke with his head clear. Of course Matsuda hadn’t asked him out. That would be ridiculous; even Matsuda wouldn’t be dumb enough to do that after Light had explicitly stated his straighness just minutes before. Still, he resolved to make an excuse for why he was busy all this week and therefore would not be able to go grab drinks after work.

Light’s father gave him a ride to work. He made a mental note to start browsing around for apartments - he did not want this to be a long term situation, but for now, it wouldn’t make sense not to carpool. On the way there, they stopped for coffee, and Light grabbed a tabloid from the bin outside. On the cover was a still image from a video that had gone viral a few months before, of Misa and Kiyomi getting into a fist fight. Light smiled fondly at the memory.

The headline read,  _ MODEL MISA AMANE OVERCOMES YEARS OF CONFLICT WITH NEWSCASTER RIVAL.  _ Light snorted. That was one way to put it. The article mostly summarized the weekend’s events, including statements from both Misa’s PR team and Sakura TV, where Takada was currently working. The caption underneath the image simply read, “Just weeks ago, the conflict between the two peaked in a stunning fight that seemed to leave irreparable damage,” but Light remembered the event in detail.

He had been accompanying Misa shopping when it happened - right in the middle of the mall. Normally, the chances of happening upon one’s ex in a city as large as Tokyo were slim; but, of course, Misa had the money to shop in the best of designer stores, which happened to be the same stores where, say, prominent newscasters might be shopping for work suits. Confrontations happened more than Light would have liked.

Misa was asking Light about his opinion on a leather miniskirt when, in the corner of his eye, he saw Kiyomi walk into the store, making a beeline for a rack of tasteful business attire. “Uh - that’s really cute Misa,” he told her. “Honestly, though, I don’t really like this store. Do you want to go somewhere else?”

Misa looked hurt. “I shop here all the time, Light. Do you not like my style?”

“What? Of course I do,” Light backtracked, and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek for good measure. “You’re gorgeous - you look good in everything. I just think we could change it up? Maybe you could try-”

“What is that bitch doing here?” Misa hissed, interrupting him. She was none to quiet either, and immediately caught the attention of the other woman.

He looked over, pretending to be surprised. Kiyomi was looking over at them with a distasteful expression. “Such strong words, Amane. What’s that you’re buying - a skirt, or a belt?”

“Don’t you dare insult my clothes when you’re buying fucking  _ pantsuits,”  _ Misa bristled. “Besides, I bet this costs more than everything in your entire bank account. I can wear whatever the fuck I want when I don’t need my employer to buy my work clothes for me!”

Light came up behind Misa and wrapped his arms around her. “Misa, come on, let’s not engage with her here. She’s not worth it.”

Misa glared and threw the garment she was holding down on the ground, but allowed Light to steer her out. That would have been the end of it, but their argument had alerted the store owner of the commotion, and several moments later Kiyomi was led out right behind them. “You fucking bitch!” Misa screamed. “That’s my favorite store, and now I bet we’re both going to be banned!”

“I’ve been minding my own business,” Kiyomi said icily. “You were the one to insult me before I had even done anything - perhaps you ought to invest in an anger management class.”

When Misa jumped at her with fists drawn back, Light was forced to admit that perhaps she was right. The two tore each other up, while onlookers, some of whom had recognized Misa, circled round to watch and film. The following weeks had been exhausting, as Misa enjoyed a surge in popularity and her PR team worked round the clock to monitor her presence in the media.

Light was left clueless as to how that fight could have possibly happened just a few months before he caught them in bed together. He tried not to dwell on it too much for the rest of the car ride, though, as he knew the topic would come up in every conversation he had today. It wasn’t as though he was even that upset about it - he was fine with having Misa out of his life; she had just been convenient to have around. He simply hated the thought of all the pitying looks he was going to get today, and the whispering behind his back that was surely going to take place.

When Light got to the office, he set his stuff down on his desk and opened up his computer, ready to shut himself off from the rest of the world to avoid participating in the office gossip. Before he could become totally engrossed in his work, though, he spotted Ryuzaki walking in, and felt the urge to say hi. Ryuzaki was the one person in the office who didn’t bore him to death, and, as icing on the cake (or perhaps this was part of what made him so exciting), he was a direct link to L. He strode over to lean against Ryuzaki’s desk.

“Good morning, Ryuzaki,” he chirped. “How are you?”

Ryuzaki looked up at him through his bangs, eye bags darker than usual. “I am well, thank you Light,” he said flatly. As always, Ryuzaki looked like he had just rolled out of bed - his suit was ill fitting and wrinkled as though it had been shoved into a drawer right after coming out of the wash, and, rather than dress shoes, Ryuzaki was wearing a pair of dirty while tennis shoes, which he immediately took off when he got to his desk and clambered atop the seat. Somehow, though, Light found that this all just added to his charm.

“Are you alright? You seem tired.”

“I am perfectly fine. It is surprising that you’re so bright this morning though, considering the weekend you seem to have had.” Light’s smile sank a bit. He would have thought that Ryuzaki would be above such celebrity gossip; he hadn’t expected him to already know about it. As though reading his mind, Ryuzaki added, “I do like to keep an eye on what happens in the tabloids, especially in regards to Miss Amane’s career - you know I was quite fond of her. It is disappointing that she won’t be coming around any longer to bring you lunch.”

Light sighed and rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re only concerned because you won’t get to see your crush any longer. You realize I’m heartbroken, right?”

Ryuzaki was nibbling on his thumb, but a small smile formed behind it. “Of course, how rude of me. Perhaps I ought to rush to get into your pants as soon as possible as Mr. Matsuda seems to be attempting? For consolation purposes, of course.”

Light choked on his coffee. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, he was very excited to let me know that you had taken him up on his offer to go out. I was surprised; I wasn’t aware you played for that team.”

“I - uh-”

“Unless you were unaware of the intentions behind his offer? Although it seems strange that someone of your social standing would not be aware of the implications of two single men - one of whom is very flamboyantly bisexual - going out for drinks? As far as I’m aware, the two of you aren’t quite close enough to warrent casual drinking together outside of work - but then, what do I know?”

“No, it’s a date!” Light insisted before his brain had time to process the thought of, ‘ _ Matsuda is flamboyantly bisexual?’ _

Ryuzaki’s smile widened. “Huh. It appears this office is more queer than I first assumed,” he mumbled, looking Light up and down in a way that made him want to shy away. “Good to know.” With that he put on his headphones, signalling that the time to chat had ended.

Light slunk back to his desk, regretting having talked to Ryuzaki. How was he to preserve his reputation now? He needed to get Matsuda to shut his damn mouth before he announced to the whole office that they were going on a date - but he had already confirmed the news to Ryuzaki, who had thrown him into a game of chicken where he couldn’t show weakness to his favorite coworker. He glared in the man’s direction. What was he playing at? Why did he give a damn about Light’s love life? He worked for L; he should have better things to do than to force Light into awkward situations!

Reluctantly, Light put his headphones in, and started typing away furiously at his computer to force away thoughts of his predicament.

By lunchtime, he had come up with a plan. He would need to go on this date with Matsuda, and make it clear that it was, in fact, a date. If Matsuda blabbed to Ryuzaki and made it seem like Light just thought it was a casual get together, then he would look dumb, and, of course, that was the worst case scenario. He would, however, need to make sure Matsuda didn’t gossip and cause more harm than he already had. He stood up from his desk and went off in search of the man.

He found him in the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Oh - hi Light!” He said upon seeing Light. “How’s it going?”

“I’m doing well - and you?”

Matsuda grinned. “I’m uh - well, my head hurts a bit. And Ryuzaki yelled at me this morning for spilling his tea. But other than that it’s a great day!”

Light leaned in closer, leaning against the counter in a casual, yet intimate fashion. “That’s great to hear. Are we still down for drinks this week?”

“Uh - yeah!” Matsuda agreed. “I was thinking Friday night?”

Light hid a frown. Doing it on a weekend would give Matsuda an excuse to get shitfaced, which Light didn’t really want to put up with. Still, he supposed that was the ideal time for a… romantic get together. “Sure. We can head out right after work, yes?”

Matsuda agreed, and Light leaned in for the kill, cheering at how well he was pulling this off. “Great. Here’s the thing,” he said, lowering his voice. “My father doesn’t actually - er - agree with this type of thing. So, if you could, you know - keep it on the down low, that would be great.”

Matsuda tilted his head in confusion. “I don’t think I understand...” He said tentatively.

Light sighed. “He’s homophobic. He wouldn’t like to hear about us going out.”

Matsuda’s eyes widened, and he stepped back. “Light! I’m sorry, I think there’s been some confusion,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean for this to be - uh - you know! A date!”

Light blinked, standing up straight. This hadn’t been..? But Ryuzaki had said… his vision nearly went white with rage as he put the pieces together. He stepped back and bowed his head politely. “I’m very sorry, Touta. I think I see where this mix up has occurred.” He turned around and began walking away. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go beat the shit out of Ryuzaki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS - it feels really weird to write anyone calling Matsuda by his first name. I'm working a few chapters ahead, so if you check out the pairing tags, it would only make sense for Light to start calling him by his first name since - spoiler - they're going to have a thing - but every time I write it it feels out of place >_<


	3. Misconceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some discussions, and lack thereof, take place.

Light stormed over to Ryuzaki’s desk, coming up beside him from behind and tapping him on the shoulder gently to get his attention. “Ahem. Ryuzaki - a word?” He asked with barely contained anger.

Ryuzaki looked up at him from his computer, face blank. “I’m very busy at the moment, Light; what can I help you with?” He asked, loud enough for the rest of the office to hear. Some other officers perked up to look over. Light glared at them until they looked away.

Light didn’t bother to explain, but grabbed the back of his rolling chair and dragged him out into the hallway. Ryuzaki didn’t protest, but maintained an infuriatingly impassive expression. When they reached a quiet corner, Light wheeled Ryuzaki around to face him. “Why did you tell me that Matsuda asked me out?” He demanded.

“It seemed clear to me that that was exactly what happened. Have I by chance misled you?”

“Yes! And you knew what you were doing, don’t play dumb!”

Ryuzaki shrugged. “Mr. Matsuda was very excited to let me know this morning that you had taken him up on his offer; I assumed that his enthusiasm could only have come from the mouth of one who was getting the chance to act on some kind of very deep enamouration.”

“Well, I’ll have you know, he’s just informed me that it wasn’t, in fact, meant to be a date. I made a fool of myself!” Light added, gesturing wildly. “You should have seen the pity in his eyes when I told him my dad was homophobic!”

“Is he?” Ryuzaki interjected, leaning forward in curiosity.

“I don’t know, actually,” Light said stiffly. “It doesn’t matter, we don’t talk about that kind of thing in my household.”

“Interesting. I would have thought that you would want to know your father’s opinion in that regard, considering that up until a few minutes ago you were making plans to go on a date with another man.” That same shit-eating grin from before was on Ryuzaki’s face, sending Light into another rage.

“I - I’m not gay! You tricked me into thinking that!”

“Oh? I was unaware that I had such a strong influence over your consciousness that I could change your sexuality at will. I shall try to use my power responsibly, I suppose.” Ryuzaki got up from his chair and slinked around Light, rolling it back towards the office. “If you would please not bother me again today, I have communications to send out for L.”

The day ended, and Light fumed on the way home. Noticing his distress, Soichiro tried to ask him what was up, but Light let on nothing. What was Ryuzaki playing at? If Matsuda hadn’t explicitly told him that he and Light were going on a date, then Ryuzaki had no reason to assume so, even if Matsuda was, “flamboyantly bisexual,” as he said, which was total bullshit because Light was a master of social cues and he would have known if that were so! Clearly, Ryuzaki had intentionally tricked him into pursuing a date with Matsuda - to prove something? Obviously that hadn’t worked - it was clear that Light had only followed through because Ryuzaki had challenged him.

Light trusted that Matsuda had the best of intentions, but he also knew that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut so save a life. By tomorrow morning, everyone in the office would know that Light was the poor closeted homo (maybe a bit true) hopelessly in love with the office’s token gay (definitely not true) and stuck with an overbearing homophobic father (also not true!). Light sighed - he was already dealing with the gossip surrounding him and Misa; he didn’t need this! And all because of Ryuzaki!

He considered calling in sick to work the next day. He thought of a thousand different plans to keep his drama with Matsuda on the down low, but instead of focusing in on any of them, he opted to finish off the bottle of wine from Sunday night and entertain himself with a cheesy detective novel. That night he dreamt that he was Hercule Poirot and had bested L in a battle of wits; as a reward, he was gifted L’s favorite assistant to do with as he wished.

The next morning he woke with disgust at the thought of being a balding middle-aged European man. He forced himself out of bed and into the shower.

He didn’t have a plan, but that was alright. He was the smartest member of the task force (other than Ryuzaki, perhaps), and the most accomplished for his age. He had dated models and TV personalities. He had commanded respect from the day he started with the police - what did it matter if some rumours about his personal life were started? Those were beneath him; he needn’t pay them any mind. Light left the house ready to take on the world.

On a whim, he declined a ride from his father. “I want to stop and grab some breakfast, so I think I’ll just take the train - leave without me!” After a moment of arguing, with Soichiro saying it would be no big deal for him to stop somewhere and Light insisting he didn’t want to make him late, Soichiro sped off, seeing that his son clearly had his own plans. On the way there, Light picked up a bag of doughnuts, causing him to arrive half an hour late to work but relaxed nonetheless.

“Morning, Ryuzaki,” Light chirped when he stepped into the Kira task force work room.

Ryuzaki looked up to acknowledge him. “Nice of you to show up, Light - I was afraid we would be down two members today.”

“Oh?” Light probed, striding over to set the bag of doughnuts down on Ryuzaki’s desk. “Who else is missing?”

Ryuzaki held up the bag with two fingers as he was wont to do, examining it like a piece of evidence. “Matsuda,” he murmured offhandedly. “What are these for, exactly?”

“You, stupid,” Light said. He took the bag back and pulled out a pastry, holding it up to the other man. “Say ah?”

Soichiro sighed deeply from across the office, and it wasn’t for a few hours that Light would check his phone and realize he had received a text that read, “Light, I know that you and Ryuzaki are friendly but PLEASE try to retain some respect - he is your boss.”

Ryuzaki merely pulled back. “That’s not required Light,” he said, looking suddenly uncomfortable. “Thank you for the gift, I appreciate it.”

So Matsuda was missing - that added to Light’s cheery state as he walked back to his desk. No rumours today, then - at least, no more to add onto the ones that were already being passed around. His elation died, however, when he opened up a letter he found on his desk addressed to him, from Matsuda himself.

He scanned through it quickly. Matsuda’s normal handwriting was chicken scratch, but he appeared to have made an effort this time to make it more presentable. Light realized in horror halfway through what the note was - it was a love confession! 

“Light, I’m so sorry for making things awkward yesterday!” Matsuda said to start out. “I was so caught off guard that I didn’t think to explain.” He went on to detail that he had been hopelessly in love with Light from when he first started on the police force - Light scoffed. Before officially starting, Light had been interning for several years while still in university; there was no way Matsuda could have been that enthralled when they had only met a few times. Perhaps Ryuzaki was right, and he was simply attempting to get into his pants? That wasn’t a crime Light could blame anyone for. Matsuda finished by saying that if Light wanted to make Friday a date he would be delighted.

Light slammed his head into his desk, drawing a few concerned looks from the task force. How did he manage to screw this up? He hadn’t even wanted to “hang out” with Matsuda as a friend, but somehow Ryuzaki had misguided him into making things weird, and now Matsuda had the gall to claim his was harboring some secret crush that Light would have to deal with at another time - but not now. He tossed the letter into the shredder and pulled out his computer to get some work done.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Matsuda never bothered to show his face, presumably too embarrassed to see Light after giving him the letter. On his way out, Ryuzaki grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. “I assume you recieved Mr. Matsuda’s letter?”

Light huffed. “Why do you know all about our business? Since when were you two confidants?”

Ryuzaki shrugged. “He’s simply very talkative - and I’m a good listener. He was elated about the news yesterday; even thanked me for whatever it was I said to you to give you the impression that he was interested in you. I suppose I’m just a naturally gifted matchmaker.”

“Yeah, whatever. Could you stop talking to him about this stuff? I appreciate my privacy, thank you very much.”

“And yet you dated a famous model? That’s not generally a position that enjoys much privacy,” Ryuzaki remarked. “Especially given recent events.”

“It’s not my fault famous women fall at my feet.”

“Have you not yet reconciled with Miss Amane? I did enjoy her company, it would be a shame if you never brought her in again.”

“Have I - what?” Light exclaimed. “Ryuzaki, she cheated on me! I’m sorry that you won’t be getting your daily dose of eye candy anymore but no, we won’t ever be getting back together.”

“That is deeply upsetting to hear. As for my ‘daily dose of eye candy,’ as you say - I get that regardless.” With that, Ryuzaki made uncomfortable eye contact with him, and Light drew back. “Well,” he said after a pause, tone much more flippant now- “Thank you for breakfast, Light. Have a good night.”

Light left when it became clear that Ryuzaki had returned to his work, and got into his dad’s car, apologizing for the wait - “Ryuzaki was going off on one of his weird tangents again, sorry.”

‘But I get that regardless’ - what was that supposed to mean? Was Ryuzaki referring to him? He recalled Ryuzaki’s comment yesterday about the office being, ‘more queer than I first assumed,’ but Light had been too caught up in his own problems to pay attention. Was Ryuzaki gay? Ugh! Now he would have to be on the lookout for his _and_ Matsuda’s advances. Being beautiful and desirable was such hard work.

Soichiro cleared his throat several minutes into the drive home. “Light, did you get my text earlier?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Light said, now uncomfortable thinking about his actions earlier. Would Ryuzaki interpret his trying to feed him as flirting? _Was_ it flirting?

“I think it’s great that you two are - friends - I don’t want to discourage that. But I think it makes the rest of us uncomfortable when you are so intimate during work hours.”

Light felt his cheeks heat up. “Uh - yeah. We’ll tone it down.” He wasn’t sure how to explain that he and Ryuzaki weren’t romantic, as his father seemed to be implying, without putting the words into his mouth.

“Okay.” They pulled into the driveway, but Soichiro grabbed Light’s shoulder before he could get out. “Light, I’m glad you’ve found someone you can really connect with.”

This time Light went beet red, and bolted up to his room without even grabbing his briefcase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed!  
> PS - I'm writing a few chapters ahead, and I feel like I say this every time I update, but I'm so excited about where this is going! This fic is so much fun ^_^


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